It is ALL about the Shoes
Equipment, January 22, 2020
There are a lot of shoes are there. Are they good? Are they super as they advertise? Do they make a difference? Does this change? Here is my two cents.
There are a lot of thoughts or opinions on what makes a great running shoes, and I am not going to discuss specific aspects of shoes or suggest which ones you should be wearing because the needs of each runner are very individual, but what cannot be argued is that shoes are built to perform a certain purpose.
They are a tool, and just like any tool the less you use them for the task for which they were designed for the less effective they are going to be. If you want to cut a board it is going to be much more effective using a saw as opposed to a hammer (which would still work in a very rough way). It is the same with running shoes. You can use a training shoe everywhere, but you are not going to have as much grip on the trails compared to a trail shoe, or as much ground contact in push off as you would in a lightweight trainer or racing flat.
Shoes change possibly more often from one model to the rest than your standard tool, and with shoes sometimes changing twice in a year, which sometimes results in your favourite shoe no longer being right for you, or a shoe that used to be not so good improving a lot. We have also seen a lot of innovation in the last 5 years, some that has been accompanied with a lot of marketing some that has just come out with a strong product. Not all innovations have proved to be great, but there are a lot of shoes that have vastly improved over the last years where if you have never tried that shoe or brand you should. Staying in the same brand or shoe over the years does not guarantee you are doing the right thing for you.
What also needs to be taken into is the fact that runners change. With more training, with less training, with age, by changing our technique, by gaining weight, or by losing weight. All of these factors have an effect on what feels good under our feet while we run.
I started training for marathons in 2006 and since then I would say that I must have run at least 50000km and of course worn out a few pairs of shoes. I started first running in very stable shoes with customised insoles, and then progressed through a range of neutral shoes. Now that I am getting a bit older my feet no longer want to have a racing flat under them for long runs. Luckily I still have a range of tools that I can use for the right cause.
This is a list of my all time favourite shoes.
Adidas adizero pro- I ran a 5km and Half Marathon PB in these. My Marathon Best was run in a RC, which wasn’t much more shoe.
Adidas adizero adios 2- a shoe I raced and trained a lot in without either having an issue.
On Cloudracer/ Cloudrush- A shoe that feels also like running barefoot that makes it fun to run over uneven terrain,up and downhill, and doing speedwork.
On Cloudventure Peak. A fast trail shoe that has great feedback and grip.
Brooks Launch. This was a shoe that I loved to use for my long steady runs. It worked, was relatively light, and not too soft.
This is a list of my favourite shoes to run in now.
On Cloud X- I used this for everything from strength training to a marathon.
True Motion Nevos- A really comfortable shoe that also likes to go when you apply some pressure.
Saucony Switchback- This show is light, flexible, has enough grip, and wants to have fun over the trails.
On Cloudflash- Let me race is what this shoe tells your feet.
On Cloudventure Peak- It is still great and still works for me.
I have the luck that I can test a lot of shoes in real conditions to see what they run like, which not only helps me know what could work for me, but also what would work for my athletes, or customers. Just reading a shoe review does not guarantee that you are going to get the right information, as sometimes the reviews are a little bit angled. With that in mind I will be starting over time to right my on reviews on shoes that I am running in.